徳富蘇峰と「力の福音」 : 『将来之日本』から『時務一家言』へSoho Tokutomi and the "Gospel of Power" : From Future Japan to A Personal Opinion on Emerging Problems

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Through a comparison of the most important work of Soho Tokutomi, Shourai no Nihon (Future Japan), and his Jimu Ikkagen (An Argument for Our Critical Questions), this paper sheds light on how Tokutomi, who made his start as a democrat, ended up transformed into an imperialist. Tokutomi argued that despite having become a power in East Asia after the Russo-Japanese War, Japan was caught between two great powers, Russia and the United States, and because of the instability of China Japan should expand both its administration on the Asian continent and its military preparedness. For Japan, the administration of Mongolia and Manchuria was considered necessary for the purpose of "offensive defense" and for establishing itself vis-à-vis China. Under the influence of the Manchester School, the young Tokutomi assumed that free trade would bring about a peaceful world, but during the Sino-Japanese War he was awakened to the superiority of military power in world politics, and as imperialism progressed through the actions of the United States and the European powers, Japan also began to advocate imperialistic policies in order to maintain its position as a "first-class world power."

Through a comparison of the most important work of Soho Tokutomi, Shourai no Nihon (Future Japan), and his Jimu Ikkagen (An Argument for Our Critical Questions), this paper sheds light on how Tokutomi, who made his start as a democrat, ended up transformed into an imperialist. Tokutomi argued that despite having become a power in East Asia after the Russo-Japanese War, Japan was caught between two great powers, Russia and the United States, and because of the instability of China Japan should expand both its administration on the Asian continent and its military preparedness. For Japan, the administration of Mongolia and Manchuria was considered necessary for the purpose of "offensive defense" and for establishing itself vis-à-vis China. Under the influence of the Manchester School, the young Tokutomi assumed that free trade would bring about a peaceful world, but during the Sino-Japanese War he was awakened to the superiority of military power in world politics, and as imperialism progressed through the actions of the United States and the European powers, Japan also began to advocate imperialistic policies in order to maintain its position as a "first-class world power."